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David Brasfield
07-12-2008, 10:24 AM
Does anyone here have a contact for low volume purchase of chemicals, UV filler, sub and top coats?

I am building a small ~8 foot long "assembly line" for handling the finishing on many of the items we are selling.

The problem we are having is cure time on conventional coatings, and the increasing demands of the wholesale quantities being requested of us.

Additionally, we don't currently need the chemicals 55 gallons at a time, since most of the objects are smaller, although some table top and furniture size pieces will be routinely processed. We need to be able to buy in the 5 to 10 gallons at a time, range.

We are only interested in the non-yellowing acrylic based products, no epoxy.

I can build my own processing line for a few thousand dollars to meet our immediate needs.

This was supposed to be an early retirement business... ;)

Thanks for any leads or suggestions!
David

Rodne Gold
07-12-2008, 11:43 AM
UV curable stuff is very expensive , doesnt build high domes and needs a serious Uv source for instant curable stuff.
We use polyurethane for protection and doming and it has a 1/2 hr application to handling time , and in a very small nicely heated and dehumidified room , with bookshelves with incandescent light bulbs at the underside of each shelf , as drying racks , and a few pneumatic dispensers etc , 2 ladies can dome 20 000 small 1-2 sq inch items a day.
We can print , cut and dome and despatch within 4 hrs.
Poly resins cost us about $20 a litre , 1 litre covers 1000 sq inches , ie 2c per sq i cost (0.3c per sq cm)
You can get different shore hardnesses , from almost jelly like to rock hard. Most urethane suppliers will have a product suitable for you.
We like fairly flexible as it doesnt scratch , crack or delaminate and can then allow our domed self adhesive stuff to be put on curved surfaces.
Only bugbear is humidity , stuff must be done in a dehumidified or warm and dry place.

What are you protecting and where's it going?

David Brasfield
07-12-2008, 12:01 PM
Hi, Rodney.

It's covering the entire piece, and the humidity here is routinely > 75%. We have air conditioned facilities, but that does only so much good when it is 99 degrees fahrenheit and 82% RH outside.

The other issue is that the size of the pieces are typically > 5 inches, and 3 dimensional. That's the small stuff, not counting tables and other assemblies. We can't use lacquer on most of our products because of the end user. I also need a product that will remain reasonably flexible, but crystal clear, and high build (4 mil).

In order to get that currently, we are spending a lot of time finishing, and it is simply becoming non-cost effective, not counting the time and the room it is consuming.

Building a UV curing fixture is relatively academic for me. I have access to all the materials needed, except the chemicals.

David

Gary Shoemake
07-12-2008, 3:06 PM
I have gotten small quanties of UV cure epoxies from Epoxies.com. They sent me a sample of 1 pint each of the products I was interested in to test at no cost.

David Brasfield
07-12-2008, 3:31 PM
Thanks, Gary.

I will check it out.

David

Bill Cunningham
07-13-2008, 10:59 PM
If you want to try a smaller quantity of a two part, Home Despot. usually has the clear 2 part epoxy used for hardcoating tables, clocks, etc.. I have used it in the past to dome some name badges that would not perm. accept a particular colour hot stamping foil.. Once domed, the colour stayed put..